Oh, good grief. Call the front desk, have maintenance take it out. They may have to turn off the breaker for all of 60 seconds.

/problem

I would trust the licensed electrician that installed them to wire them correctly, and I would trust the building inspector to check them all.

Though again it really doesn't matter, even if it was the hot side, as long as you don't lick it or something stupid it's not a hazard.

facing an outlet, with the ground at the bottom, the left is always the neutral outlet, and the right is always the hot side. Assuming the outlet is also polarized (depends on when it was installed) the neutral, on the left, will also be the wider slot.

It would only maim you if you managed to fall against it and get the prong in your eye. You're more likely to do that with your toothbrush, so there's that one dealt with. Cause a fire? How? Again, yes, American wiring standards are terrible, but the fact is the US insists on using single core wire is more of a fire hazard than a random possibly-maybe-but-probably-not exposed phase wire. Given it should (assuming it was done right the first time) be a neutral then it shouldn't be a problem anyway. Actually, even if done wrong it wouldn't be much of a problem so long as you're not dumb enough to grab it while earthing yourself. Although, granted, if the wiring is stuffed in another part of the room or another room entirely and that plug loops off that circuit rendering the entire circuit live then you're dead anyway, but hey, that just brings us back to the crappy wiring standards thing again.

And I disagree on the points thing. I'd be more than happy to be compensated for something like that. Heck, 20 points is good: it's certainly more points than the trouble it's worth.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I had an early morning, returned about noon. I saw the Manager on duty on my floor upon returning.

Me: "Hello, I'm in room number 123, may I show you something"

Him: "Sure" (follows me)

Me: opens my room door, shows the manager

Him: "I'll send an engineer up right away to take care of it"

Said engineer used a pair of diagonal side cutters to remove offending prong. He was in my room a total of 20 seconds.

You win!!

- - - : :

I never wanted to move rooms, could care less about compensation. I actually sleep better in small rooms vs an oversized suite (odd, I know).

I just wanted this taken care of for the next guests. Could be kids, an elderly person.

I was just curious what you all would do.

Thank you.

Apparently the answer to that is "Make fun of you"

I'd be interested to understand more about why US wiring standards are terrible. My house hasn't gone up in flames yet and it's had electric service for YEARS.

From the very same Wikipedia article: "The standard 5–15 (and its 1–15 two prong counterpart) is sometimes called an "Edison plug" in the film and theatre industry, where that name distinguishes it from more specialized theatrical connectors. This presumably refers to Thomas Edison or the various Edison utility companies that supply electric power."

I think it's less about our standards being terrible and more about foreign standards being unnecessarily complicated. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_circuit and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electri...United_Kingdom

Ring Mat and read a book. I wouldn't get that worked up over it.

occasionally the neutral disconnects. that is a very dangerous situation. if you grab the hot side of the neutral, voltage can be deadly.

The US system is designed to be safe with double insulation. Which is a great system, in theory. Except most times it isn't installed that way, thus rendering the entire circuit potentially unsafe. Contrast that with the UK/Oz/NZ Multiple Earth Neutral system that relies on a serial connection back to earth. The US system earths off any available earth potential, often copper plumbing mains or the external sheathing used to protect the wiring itself. That means that the potential for a reverse or cross phase situation that causes the entire plumbing system or conduits to become live can occur. Most civilized countries use a separate earth line to a dedicated earth rod (you can't, in theory, cause the plumbing to become live) and don't allow protective sheathing/conduit to be metal or earthed off for any reason. The US system has phase always live: switched outlets are uncommon in most of the US. US contractors tend to use single core copper or, even worse, aluminium wire. Such wire is harder to secure, more prone to breaking when being drawn at install and subsequent rewiring, and less capable of dealing with surges compared to the more common standard (in the EU and OZ/NZ/Jpn) multicore copper wire. US outlets consist of multiple parts, usually metal and seldom earthed. Contrast with the more common style in NZ & Oz where the outlet and external plate are one assembled piece and incapable of carrying current outside of the connectors themselves, usually attached to a single, non-conductive outlet box. Etc, Etc.

Or were you just being facetious?

Or our electricians being trained and able to understand basic concepts and yours not?

We haven't used aluminum (one i ) wire since the 70's. many homeowners insurance companies won't insure houses with aluminum wire.

As for plumbing being the only ground, electrical ground is often bonded to the metal pipes - near where it enters the house - but there has to be a separate earth rod also (at least this is my understanding).

At least we're not afraid of light switches in the bathroom!

Just bend down and touch the end of it with your tongue. If there's a "buzzy" sort of sensation then it's live. At least that's how it is with batteries, so this must be the same.

Probably.

P.S. Stop all this cloak-and-dagger stuff and tell us what the hotel is FFS.

Plumbing mains do go into the ground and will conduct the charge away very well. I have never seen the external sheath used as the ground, it's merely connected to the ground. If you drive a nail through a metal-sheathed wire the breaker will trip but you're not going to be hurt even if you're standing in water. Drive it through a wire without a metal sheath, though...

Around here the metal sheaths are only used when a wire needs extra protection anyway.

I don't think the plumbing could become hot enough to matter even if you shorted the mains to it and somehow didn't pop a breaker.

As for not grounding the sheath--see above.

Agreed.

I don't think aluminum has been used for a long time. They thought it was a way to save money, experience showed it was a bad idea and we're back to copper.

I think having the plate separate is a good idea. That way you don't have to mess with the electric part of it if you want to pull the plates for painting. I also have a couple of outlets where I pulled the screw that holds the plate so I had the screwhole available for a splitter that turns things sideways. (For example, in the kitchen I put in such a splitter. While it has 6 outlets I'm still only using two, the advantage being that they now face sideways and thus the wire doesn't get a sharp bend if something is pushed back against it. I likewise have one on the plug under my desk to avoid having a wire sticking out.)

Simply not at all true. Maybe five decades ago when two prong outlets (and aluminum wire) were common, but I don't even think you can easily buy ungrounded outlets anymore. Grounded outlets were pretty much standard since the late 60's are are pretty much code just about every where now.